Yemenis Worldwide

Yemen’s chief export is its people. There are villages which consist of only women, children and old men as the husbands and fathers have traveled to Saudi Arabia, the USA, East Asia and Africa to work. The men come home possibly once a year, to see their loved one and leave the money they have made to support the family, maybe adding additions to their homes before returning abroad to work. Some men will take their families with them, returning when the children are old enough for the family to choose spouses for them.

The Yemenis who have settled in the US work in small businesses, such as grocery stores in New York City or gas stations in Mississippi and Alabama. Over 250,000 Arabs live in the Detroit area and many of these are Yemeni. They moved there to work with the auto industry, settling but still keeping close ties with the homeland. They also remain tightly knit while in the US, extending hospitality to outsiders who want to get to know them, but chiefly relying on one another for community. Most women wear the Muslim hijab or scarves and some even veil while living in the US.  The  children of these workers grow up with the American mindset, going to the local schools, but they must remain loyal to Islam and the values of their parents. This sometimes causes stress, as the two cultures clash, as the old and young see life differently. Many Yemeni Americans have dual citizenship, collecting social security checks in the mountain villages of Yemen, which they returned to on retirement from jobs in the US.

As Yemenis travel, they collect new ideas, adjusting to the Indonesian, Malaysian, Ethiopian, European, North American or Saudi Arabian cultures that they live in, but proudly holding onto their Arab identity. Sometimes the men marry women from these countries. As Islam allows men to marry women of other faiths, the women do not have to convert to Islam though many do. The children are required to be Muslims. When the wives move to Yemen with their husbands, they are surprised that the men return quickly to the Yemeni ways, stripping off the foreign habits that they adopted while abroad.

Yemenis who live outside of the county have the chance to observe and talk to people of other beliefs. They can visit churches, talk to Christians and read the Bible, though Muslim leaders in their communities may discourage or even forbid them from doing this.  Most have never been invited to a Christian home. Many have felt more welcomed in a night club or a bar than with Christian groups. Some are seen as dangerous by those in the West who are afraid of Muslims, thinking that  all Yemenis are terrorists. Those who live alongside the Yemeni communities must reach out to them. Did not Jesus instruct us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves?

• Pray for Yemenis in the West, that Christians will reach out to them, be good neighbors and through their actions, share God’s love with them.
  
• Pray for young people who have been victims of prejudice against Muslims in the West. Some have turned to terrorist web sites, where they have felt accepted. Pray that they will see the danger of joining these groups and turn away from them.
  
• Pray for women from other countries who have married Yemeni men and move to Yemen. Most do not understand the male dominated culture that they have become a part of. Disillusionment and divorce is common among this group. Also Yemeni law states that the children stay with the fathers, a fact that these women may not know. Pray that these women will be comforted and hear the Good News, that Jesus loves them.
  
• Pray for Yemeni children who have grown up in the West and return to Yemen. They look Yemeni on the outside but their worldview is American, Canadian or European. Pray that they will hear the Gospel, which has been given to every culture and tribe.